Still Learning

Emotionally high. I was heading into the week atop a peak, renewed with vigor, and ready to really start training. I took the first part of the week easy to help recover from Sundays effort and planned to attack the back half with a tempo and a long run. I went out for the tempo on Friday and by the time I was done, I had fallen. I was quickly reminded that everyday would not be perfect, in quite a cruel fashion.
I headed down to "The Point" (hains point) for a nice 5 mile tempo. After feeling tired all week from the race, I felt like I was floating on the warmup; this was going to be a good day. After some stretching and strides, I got started on the tempo feeling just as good as I had on the warmup. After two miles around 5:30, I picked it up and finished the next mile in 5:18. Unfortunately all was not well. I developed a side stitch in the third mile that would get worse with each step. After about a minute into the fourth mile, I had convinced myself that I would not be finishing all 5. After two minutes, the pain of the stitch was forcing me to go all out to keep the pace tempo worthy. With each right step, my body would bend to the side and I would attempt to convince myself of the futility of the effort; with each left step, I would regroup and convince myself to wait for the stitch to disappear. The stitch stayed and I did not complete the 5. I came close, 4.95 before I broke and called it a day. Of course there is the part of me that would have loved to complete the final .05, but then there is the smarter side that realizes that I am not in any worse shape as a result. In the end, I averaged 2 seconds a mile faster than when I did the same workout two weeks ago. Considering the improvement and the stitch, I am pleased.

Three Years

Time flies. It really does. Im not sure how I finally made it back to standing behind a timing mat after numerous injuries that hampered my running to the point that I could not build up to a level of fitness where I felt comfortable toeing the line.

From here, who knows what happens next? Im hoping to finish up an entire season of racing and continue onto another. At the moment I am enjoying the accomplishment. The completion of my first real 5k.... in 3 years.

As for the actual race, I was disappointed after I finished. I was hoping for a time unbeknownst to me. I was looking ahead picturing myself in the lead pack. I was looking head anticipating a magical occurrence of a blast of forward thrust to shrink the distance between myself and the leaders more and more until my ultimate victory. Not today, no. Alas, I arrived back at the mats 15 minutes and 44 seconds later strangely feeling both weak and strong, the undertaking of a formerly less foreign task complete. Its funny, right after the race when the air stands still and the world slows and all you can do is smile. Im sure its kind of like the feeling the kid last off the bench on his rec team feels as he catches fire and finishes the losing effort with 8 points and 2 assists. A memory stained that is readily recovered decades down the line.

Later in the day, the disappointment receded and I started to feel like I thought I would. The effort was great, as was the time. I am certain that in just a few weeks I could hold the same pace for twice the distance. As for a few more weeks after that, I am less certain about the time I could run, but I will have the opportunity to figure it out on April 17th.

The disappointment was nice. Looking back on it, I see the fire. I see the hunger that just a couple of weeks ago I thought may never feel again. Its funny that nearly two years ago to the day (2/7/9), a former JMU runner told me to look at this way "whenever you get healthy, you will feel fresh". How right he was.

Splits for the race went something like 5:02, 5:03, 5:04